This invention relates to drying apparatus especially for use in drying and sterilizing industrial by products and organic materials of any moisture content, such as agricultural and animal wastes, blood, manure and the like, e.g. for use in animal foods or fertilizers.
Various waste dehydrator structures are known in the prior art, such as the United States patents to Chambe, No. 4,230,451, Trouillard, No. 4,191,527 and Hoffman No. 1,061,941, but such structures are believed to achieve lower efficiency levels than the extremely efficient operation attainable with the present invention, and such prior art structures do not secure other advantages of the present invention.
Problems associated with prior art drying apparatus include high fuel and energy costs associated with inefficient operation; problems in accommodating materials with nonuniform initial moisture content and in processing to a uniform final moisture content; the need to control release of gases evolved from the material being dried; and the large size of and consequent space requirements for prior art apparatus which is frequently difficult to transport, assemble and place in operation, particularly in remote locations. These and other problems associated with the prior art dehydrators are solved by the present invention.